Acting Prime Minister Prakash Ramadhar says he supports statements made by National Security Minister Gary Griffith last week that gang members would not receive state contracts.Speaking to reporters during yesterday's law-enforcement exercise in Malabar, Ramadhar said gang members had no place in government business."There should be no negotiations with criminals, especially if you are speaking about government contracts," he said.
"The issue at hand is who do you determine to be gang members. That is why we are asking for there to be an increased sensitivity to get the evidence to prosecute all those who belong to gangs."Griffith tried to clarify the process the Government would be using to deal with gang members who received state contracts.He said a watchlist of gang members would be compiled by law enforcement officers on the basis of intelligence received.
The information would then be passed on to the Ministry of National Security before going to the state officials involved in distributing contracts."The persons who already have contracts, fair enough, they got away. What we are speaking of now is blacklisting those individuals who continue to deprive citizens of their safety and security."He said the blacklist would not only apply to gang members who sought to get contracts.
"There is also another avenue where they use individuals as fronts and we are aware of them already," Griffith said."When legitimate contractors go to locations, they are being targeted by individuals in the communities and told that they must pay 'taxes,' and we are dealing with that as well. We will deal with it and stamp it out once and for all."Griffith also commented on Attorney General Anand Ramlogan's statement that blacklisting gang members could lead to an increase in crime.
While he said he agreed with Ramlogan, he added that his initial statement was not negotiable."This is similar to the United States, where there is a watchlist. If someone is a terrorist but has not been charged I don't think they would allow him to paint the Pentagon. Any right-thinking government with good ethics and the political will would not adhere to any elements having contracts. "This is not negotiable. There is no discussion to this."